KOTTAYAM: Unravelling the involvement of more police officers in the abduction and death of Kevin P Joseph, a Dalit Christian youth hailing from Kottayam, the special investigation team took an Assistant Sub-Inspector and a police driver into custody for interrogation on Wednesday.
Accordingly, ASI T M Biju and driver Ajayakumar of Gandhinagar police station were placed under suspension. Action was taken after media revealed a phone conversation between Biju and Syanu Chacko, an accused in the case. Kochi Range IG Vijay Sakhare said Biju and Ajayakumar tried to illegally compromise the case and were facing allegations of accepting bribe from the accused.“We have called them for interrogation after we got evidence against them for facilitating the accused,” Sakhare said. As per sources, criminal offences are likely to be charged against them after the interrogation, which progressed late into the night.
Charges against them are expected to be severe as they not only failed in discharging their duty but also facilitated the escape of the accused. On Wednesday, the SIT focused completely on investigating the involvement of police officers in the crime.
At the same time, SIT did not get any valid evidence with regard to the criminal culpability on the part of Gandhinagar SHO, M S Shibu, who allegedly overlooked the complaint — lodged by Kevin’s father Joseph Jacob and wife Neenu Chacko — that Kevin was abducted by a gang on the early hours of Sunday.
Vijay Sakhare said there was negligence on the part of Shibu while other aspects are under investigation. It is learnt the IG has given a clean chit to Shibu in his report set to be submitted to the DGP. Sources said the IG stated that Shibu got information about the abduction only after he arrived at the station by 9 am.